Kim Schumacher, born December 15, 1949, was a radio DJ and TV host famous in Denmark between 1982 and 1990.
Kim started as a DJ at Danmark’s Radio (the only Danish radio station at that time) in 1982, and made a true revolution. Back then there was no such thing as a radio DJ in Denmark.
The term was more like 'radio host', as records would be handled and cued up by a technician, and started by the radio host by pressing a button - If it was a live show. Kim’s first many broadcasts were taped in advance - again using technicians to handle the technology.
The technician would be on the technology side of the studios glass wall, the radio host would be in the sound booth which save for the mike and button had no other technology to speak of and this scenario was challenged during the eighties.
Kim introduced young Danish listeners to breakdance, rap, remixes & megamixes - and opened up our eyes for a completely new world of music, which was almost invisible and inaudible at consumer outlets. Kim Schumacher helped push modern dance type music to the point where it became more accepted as mainstream. Also Kim pushed the limit for the experience of listening to the radio, and much innovation and creativity was seen in the radio field in that decade, with Kim placed in the core of development.
Certainly compared to the 3 previous decades of radio services the eighties became a wake-up call to the people controlling the Danish radio anno 1982.
At that time many young people (like us) simply taped his broadcasts. No local music outlets was familiar with the music and would not easily order it for us, so our only other way to deal with listening again was to tape the broadcasts, and keep them. The music he played was very new and rather unique to his shows and his speak was faster than most others hosts yet timed perfectly to the individual records - almost - every time.
On some occasions Kim Schumacher appeared on television, both as video presenter and video jockey (programs such as 1999, Harakiri and Videosynet) and as a game show host on TV (Labyrint and Kim’s Corner) - but he remains best remembered by teenagers in that decade for his many radio broadcasts, while the older viewers remember him as the game show host.
Kim died of of complications due to AIDS on June 12, 1990 - only 40 years old. But he was not forgotten. Both in 1996 and 1997 Peer Kaae released double CD sets with bits and pieces from Kim's broadcasts. These were created by Jacob Lund from a local radio station The Voice in Copenhagen who cut Kim’s comments out of old broadcasts and fit them with CD quality 7'' versions of the songs Kim played. Although actually Kim played obscure versions that were either mixed or remixed, for copyrights reasons only the normal versions of the songs were used. 2 kroner per disc set were given to AIDS Fondet to help their work to fight the disease, the double CD sets were typically priced at 149 - 159 kroner each.
As the Internet began to gain popularity, people started writing together about Kim Schumacher - and discovered that some people still kept their taped recordings with Kim Schumacher. Today we have collected information about close to 200 radio recordings - more or less complete, and covering the entire spectre of new and evolving dance music in the time from 1982 to 1989. From Disco over Rap and House to Techno.
This site is has become a tribute to Kim Schumacher and a handy database for those into the music he played, a discography for collectors of the music and the source of information on artists you do not hear much about and who may or may not have been active since the eighties. We're gathering information about all the broadcasts he made, the records he played and noting his speak over the records - a time consuming effort, which takes a lot of time.
When we are not collecting information we are correcting spelling mistakes and establishing which issue was actually played, as many songs feature on several issues at the time. Some are hard to get and some may have been mixed for the occasion. A few records are often found second hand, and others are so rare that those of us who collect records have never seen them in person.
.........................
Initially published 030604 by Tom Iversen.
1st revision 051215 by Mikkel Breiler
2nd revision 110711 by Mikkel Breiler
3rd revision 140215 by Mikkel Breiler
What or who is Kim Schumacher?
Redaktør: www.kimschumacher.dk